Accused jury nobbler was ‘stroppy’ when he was not made foreman

A juror accused of plotting with his mother and a witness to get a boxing promoter cleared of drug dealing charges became ‘stroppy’ when he was not elected as the foreman, a court heard.

Damien Drackley, 37, allegedly told other jurors: ‘He’s not guilty, nothing is ever going to change my mind’ during the trial at Warwick Crown Court in 2018.

Drackley, Allen and witness Laurence Hayden, 53, are now standing trial at the Old Bailey for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice between 12 and 22 November 2018.

Hayden was arrested for giving false evidence at the trial after he was spotted winking at the jury, it is claimed.

They allegedly conspired to acquit Allen of charges of supplying £150,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis and possession of a CS gas spray cannister at Warwick Crown Court in 2018.

Judge Andrew Lockhart discharged the jury on the second day of deliberations when the nobbling came to light and found Allen guilty of the charges himself, jailing him for 13 years.

Mark Walker, 57, is also on trial for assisting in the conspiracy while Drackley’s mother Lorraine Frisby, 55, has admitted her involvement in the plot.

Another juror, 40-year-old Daniel Porter, was also charged with the offence for lying as a witness but has since died.

One of the other jurors, Dominyk Maggs, told the Old Bailey as Laurence Hayden, known as ‘Del Boy’, came to the witness box to give evidence he nodded at Drackley.

He said: ‘As he came into the box he looked directly at juror number one [Drackley], made direct eye contact with him and nodded very visibly.

‘He wasn’t scanning the jury, he was looking directly at juror number one.

‘I thought it was very odd, I appreciate coming into court is not an everyday occurrence for a significant number of people and it would be daunting to come in and give evidence, but it seemed very odd.

‘When we left court, the door of the courtroom hadn’t even shut, and juror one said “did you see that guy nod at me” and myself and another juror said “yes we did, it was very visible nod.’

He added that when the jury came to select a foreperson Drackley put himself forward.

He said: ‘We asked does anyone want the role and juror number one said he quite fancied that role for himself. Another juror said they wouldn’t mind doing it as well.

‘We voted. Juror one initially got no votes and then he said “oh great, nobody likes me then, thanks.” Then one of the other jurors raised their hand and voted for him. The other juror was voted in by the rest of us.’

‘He seemed quite upset, it was almost stroppy and childlike.’

The jury then went round the table and said if they initially thought Allen was guilty or not guilty on each charge.

‘Juror number one said “definitely not guilty”. He said it was all made up, it was a complete load of rubbish, none of what the prosecution said made any sense, none of the facts made sense, none of it followed anything so he was not guilty across the board.

‘He said he had knowledge of these things and what was being presented was not factually correct.

‘He was always quite aggressive and always wanted to get his point of view across and would also get frustrated very easily when anyone would not agree or question any point he had made.

‘He didn’t want people to have their point of view, he got quite loud with a raised voice.

‘The next day when we returned we went around the table again to see if anyone had had a change of heart.

‘Juror number one still had his coat on, and he said “he’s not guilty, you’re not going to change my mind, nothing is ever going to change my mind, this is pointless, I don’t know why we’re sat here.’

‘He then pulled his hood over his head and said he wasn’t going to participate anymore.

‘We were all quite shocked as there were meant to be 12 people to discuss the evidence.’

The jury attempted to continue to discuss the evidence, and one member raised a point about the layout of Allen’s home and the gym he owned next door.

The witness said that when jury members were selected a list of names and places was read out and they had to say if they recognised the names or not, including Longford Road in Coventry and the home and gym owned by Allen.

He said: ‘All we had was a floorplan. Someone was questioning something and juror one said “no, no, no, that’s all a complete load of rubbish, I know the Capitol Gym, I know the house, this is how all the windows are, they look like this.”

‘And he started to describe in detail what the property looked like from outside, and said he knew this because he had attended the gym.’

‘It was at that point I asked him to stop because I was not comfortable with what he was saying. I said you’ve admitted prior knowledge of these locations, you need to stop there.

‘He said “I drive past it, of course I know what it looks like.’

‘He got agitated and tried to say he’d just driven past it and didn’t really have knowledge.’

Mr Maggs then wrote a note for the judge to tell him what had been said.

‘Juror one got quite aggressively defensive, said we were timewasting, “we need to carry on”, “I don’t know why you’re doing this to me.” He said he hadn’t really said anything, we were all being ridiculous and it was just an overreaction.

‘We then had a coffee break and he changed his demeanour completely, trying to be overly friendly with everybody and really chatty, a complete 180.’

Drackley was then dismissed as a juror by the judge. A police investigation began, and the entire jury was dismissed, under using powers under section 46 of Criminal Justice Act, 2003.

Mr Maggs said that Drackley refused to switch off his mobile phone throughout the trial.

‘We were told even before we were sworn that we could take mobile phones into the courtroom but they were to be switched off, the clerk said the judge would not be very happy if mobile phones went off in his court.

‘It became a religious activity before we went into court to switch our phones off. But juror number one was the exception, he said he wasn’t switching his mobile phone off, he didn’t see the point of it and that it was not something he was going to do- he said the rest of us were overreacting.’

Prosecutor Tony Badenoch KC earlier told the court that Leslie Allen ‘had a man on the jury’.

He said: ‘This case is concerned with a concerted attempt by Leslie Allen to evade justice in a criminal trial in November of 2018.

‘He was the only defendant in that trial in which he stood charged with drugs offences and a weapons offence.

‘Leslie Allen was and is a major drugs wholesaler and he had both the money and the motive to seek to evade justice.

‘He was, in fact, guilty of the offences to which he was charged and had every reason to seek to pervert the course of justice in his own trial.

‘The prosecution case is that Leslie Allen sought to bring about a different outcome in his own trial – not guilty verdicts and the opportunity to avoid that lengthy prison sentence.

‘He did so by promising financial incentives to a juror. Damien Drackley was promised a financial incentive.

‘Leslie Allen also recruited others to lie on oath in his case, Laurence Hayden and Daniel Porter. They turned up to the trial to give false evidence.

‘Daniel Porter claimed the drugs in question were in fact his, and not Leslie Allen’s. That was something that was dismissed.

‘Allen used intermediaries to seek to maintain his cover. Mark Walker was involved in the background in passing messages, information and the like, as was the mother of the first defendant in this case, Lorraine Frisby.’

Mr Badenoch said: ‘Drackley had said ‘not guilty, not guilty’, before the jury had even begun to discuss the evidence. In expressing his view, he was abrupt and disruptive.

‘He sought to persuade others of his view. He was quite vocal and didn’t believe a word of the prosecution which made other jurors question the case.’

On recordings Frisby was heard communicating information from Allen to her son and discussing how to influence other jurors to find Allen not guilty.

Hayden and Walker allegedly acted as conduits between Allen and Frisby.

Drackley was heard telling his girlfriend Tammy Davenport: ‘Me and my mum know people that know the geezer that is on trial, there’s two of them that I know that are going to try and go guilty but I’m gonna try and sway em, get the others to say the same as me.’

Frisby was heard saying: ‘I just had Mr Allen on the phone… said he would sort you out… gonna get a lot more than membership of my gym. Mr Allen said it makes him feel a bit better to know he’s got a face on the jury.’

Mr Badenoch said: ‘Essentially, there was a running commentary and dialogue between a compromised juror and the defendant. The dialogue extended to promises of financial benefit.

‘It was in short, a fix.’

Allen, of HMP Oakwood, Drackley, of Diamond Walk, Nuneaton, Hayden, of St Nicholas Street, Coventry and Walker, of Minton Road, Coventry, deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Frisby, of West Boulevard, Birmingham, has admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The trial continues and is expected to last four weeks.